The Odds of Survival: A Helicopter Pilot’s Story

THE ODDS OF SURVIVAL: The story of an Assault Helicopter pilot’s riveting memoir in Vietnam from June 1967 through June 1968 flying the famed UH-1H Huey. He was a pilot with C/ 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st. Air Cavalry Division (Airmobile). His helicopter company earned the Presidential Valorous Unit Award in the Fall of 1967. Courage was never-ending, including a Medal of Honor recipient. From October 1967 – to January 1968, they flew in the mountainous terrain west of Chu Lai in the Que Sanh Valley, I Corps. The 1st Cavalry’s famed 7th Cavalry faced a North Vietnamese Army Division with riveting daily skirmishes. Dangerous missions and narrow escapes! On January 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) launched the TET Offensive. Some 8,500 well-equipped NVA regulars blasted their way into the Imperial City of Hue, pushing US Marines out of the Old Walled City. The battle lasted 21 days and was the bloodiest and heaviest conflict of the Vietnam War. Ide describes the adrenaline rush and the horror of war during those 21 death-defying days of February 1968. In March 1968, flight operations moved to the Northern tip of I Corps, helping to break the siege at Khe Sanh. The 1st. Air Cavalry Division airlifted 30.000 men and artillery into the hills above and around Khe Sanh, where 6000 Marines had been under heavy attack since January 1968. The airmobile division drove the enemy out of Khe Sanh’s hills into Laos and the A’Shau Valley. April 1968 initiated the invasion of the A Shau Valley. The NVA considered the valley a symbol of their invulnerability as long-reaching 23mm and 37mm antiaircraft guns and 51 caliber machine guns destroyed or damaged 30 1st Air Cavalry helicopters in the first 24 hours of the invasion. It was the hottest aerial combat the 1st Cavalry or any other helicopter unit faced in Vietnam, before or since. As a result, the division suffered the most helicopter losses of any one day of the war. This book takes you on a front-row helicopter trip through the Vietnam War’s worst and most famous battles, a ride you will never forget! —- ISBN: 9798842953400 | ISBN10: B0B7QRT9H1 | ISBN-13: 979-8842953400